Mates Conquer Everything, Right?

It’s only a little later when Amanda and Ela visit me. Something is off about Amanda.

“Are you okay?” I ask Amanda, who is looking skittish and not focused.

“I have a bad feeling.” Those words make Ela sit upon my bed.We were playing some game I still don’t understand. They taught me the rules, but it is too difficult.

“What kind of bad feeling?” Ela asks and rushes to her side to stroke her arm.

“Something is going on; I am restless and that isn’t good.”

“Can you specify your feelings?” Ela whispers.

“I feel like I am being watched, but without eyes on me. Like there’s tension on my body I can’t shake off.”

I watch the exchange of words breathlessly. Does Amanda feel the mission and the possible attack?

“Maybe I should see the Alpha.” Amanda looks at me unsure, as if I can help her decide. And it looks like I can. Her face changes from worry to questioning.

“Violet, do you know something?” I sigh at her question.

“Yes, the Alpha is going to announce something at dinner.”

“I don’t think I can tell you. If you think your gift can help them, you should talk to him.” I tell Amanda. I think he needs every power he can get.

Actually, we need all the power we can get. If the rogues are planning an attack, Amanda should know. She is strengthening the pack somehow with her power. Why isn’t she part of the important Alpha meetings?

Before I could ask her that question, she has already left the room.Ela and I talk about her training. She is doing well. Training with the “big guys” as she says it.

“So, then I went right, and instead of jumping over the wall, I went for the trees. The mission was to cross the water, no one told us to use the wall and the rope. When I saw the tree with the branch over the water, I climbed it.” She gives me a proud toothy smile. The smile a toddler gives you the first time they figure out how to hide behind the curtain.

“That is some out-of-the-box thinking you did.”

“Right? And the best part was that my fellow trainees didn’t think about it and I got the thumbs up from Welton.” She sees the confused frown on my face.

“Welton is the head warrior. He said I was seeing opportunities and using them correctly. A big asset for the pack.” She jumps up and starts to shake my shoulders with her hands.

“I am an asset!” I laugh at her, with all the things going on, it is nice to laugh freely and not to worry.

Our celebration is cut short by my phone ringing. I look at it and see “Mama” written on the screen. I didn’t speak to her, not after my hellish experience. I thought I was dying. I wrote a letter to send her if I don’t survive the next heat. How can I even pick up the phone and have a normal conversation when everything is upside down?

“Do you want to take it?” Ela asks, and I look at her.

“No,” I say, “but I have to”.

“I’ll see you at dinner then.” She leaves the room, my silent room because the phone isn’t ringing anymore. I steel my nerves to settle and start calling her back.

“Violet, finally I get you on the phone!” My mom sounds excited to speak to me, so I try to match her excitement.

“Yes, sorry, I was so busy. I did text you.”

“Texting isn’t calling. What are you doing to be so busy you don’t even have time for your own mother?”

Well, let’s see. I not only found out that the world we live in has secrets. I also was in danger for a long time. Since I left your side, I was almost murdered three times. And do you remember when you called me two nights in a row? Yes, I couldn’t answer the phone because I was in the worst pain imaginable.

I can’t tell her any of that, so I go for the next big thing.“I kind of met someone.”

“Who?” she asks, and I shake my head.

“A man, he is very kind to me, and we are sort of dating.” I wait for her response. ’Sort of dating’ doesn’t even cover a tenth of the relationship we are in.

“Oh ’lieverd’, I am happy for you, but…” Oh no, she starts with Lieverd, I am not going to like what she says next.

“I am happy for you that you like it there, but you do know it will only be harder to leave the country when your exchange program is over. That poor boy is going to be heartbroken.”

I take a seat on my bed. One, I am not as happy as I should be with my ’boyfriend’. Two, the poor boy is a grown-ass man, and three, I didn’t give it a lot of thought, but going home, as my mom thinks, is out of the question now.

I could say all those things, but I settle for what I tell her next. “I know Mama, we are having fun and he’s teaching me all about the country.” That’s code for the werewolf world.

“Okay, just tell me one thing. Are you having safe fun?”

It takes me a second to figure out what she is saying.

“We are being safe.” The safest kind there is. With no sexual contact whatsoever. But again, nothing she needs to know.

“Good,” she tells me, and I take over the conversation.

“Tell me about home. How is everyone?” With that question, my mom goes off telling me everything I missed.

She is amazing. I look to the far corner of my room while listening to her. I spot the letter I have written for her and dad. Hopefully, it will never leave my room.